by Jeff Gluck, USA TODAY Sports

by Jeff Gluck, USA TODAY Sports

What must it be like to go through a 70-race winless streak such as the one Carl Edwards carried heading into Sunday's Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway?

Hamlin shook his head. He didn't know, nor did he want to know.

"I'd be in the nut house after 50," Hamlin said.

Fortunately for Edwards, he no longer has to experience a long winless streak either. Edwards won Sunday for the first time in nearly two years and showed he's "relevant again", according to Hamlin.

"I appreciate him bringing that up," Edwards said with a chuckle when told of Hamlin's comment. "At least he didn't talk about my irrelevancy when I was irrelevant."

Edwards might never have been irrelevant, but he was certainly off the radar for all of 2012.

Though Edwards contended for the championship in 2011 - he tied with Tony Stewart in the final standings but lost on a tiebreaker - he missed NASCAR's Chase playoffs last year and never found his way to Victory Lane.

But on Sunday, everything clicked for Edwards and his team. He not only won the Subway-sponsored race in his Subway-sponsored car, but did so at the same track where he ended his other long losing streak, which was also 70 races.

It was the 20th victory of Edwards' career. The Roush Fenway Racing driver's last win was on March 6, 2011 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, site of next Sunday's race.

Considering Phoenix is known among drivers as the first "real" race of the season - the outcome is more in their hands than at the Daytona 500 - Edwards couldn't have hoped for anything better after wrecking several cars during Speedweeks.

"I'm very, very happy to be back in the mix here," he said. "Last year we didn't make the Chase. For me to sit home while everybody was at the Chase (media) stuff and at Vegas (the postseason awards banquet), that was a little bit of a shock to me. I did not like that at all."

Edwards was in firm control of the race from the time he beat Dale Earnhardt Jr. off pit road with 74 laps to go, but a late caution left the result in doubt. Fennig knew Edwards was already close to running out of fuel, and there was a question as to whether an overtime finish would exhaust his diminishing supply of gas.

"When the caution came out I said, 'OK, now we're going to have to earn it,'" Edwards said. "It made me really buckle down and work hard."

But Edwards got a good restart, helped by a push from new Ford teammate Brad Keselowski, and cruised to the win as Daytona 500 winner Jimmie Johnson (second) and Hamlin (third) battled behind him.

Edwards celebrated with his traditional backflip and climbed into the stands to celebrate with fans, who mobbed him while cheering enthusiastically. "This win feels as good or better than any win I've ever had," Edwards said.

Despite the win, Edwards still didn't crack the top 10 in the Sprint Cup Series point standings.

He jumped 19 positions to 11th, but still remains 31 points behind leader Johnson - who now has a win and a runner-up finish to start the season - thanks to a 33rd-place Daytona finish.

Still, Edwards will head to Las Vegas, where he got his last win two years ago, feeling more pumped than in a long time, he said.

"I feel like I could jump over those grandstands right now," he said. "This is neat."